Real-Life Avatars

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Real-Life Avatars

The dozen or so pieces of glitter attached to inventor Olaf Schirm's face (left) are actually reflective foil markers. A tiny infrared camera mounted on his helmet is poised about 6 inches in front of his face, picking up the movement of the markers as he smiles or frowns. His movements are then digitized by circuitry in the helmet and sent to a 3-D computer model of a human face, which mimics Schirm's expressions in real time. The system, called the X-IST tracker, is being tested by Sony Pictures and ZDF German TV, as well as by Manhattan Transfer/Edit, which used the X-IST facial tracker to develop Backyard Safari, a children's science series slated for PBS.